Module manufacturing is decarbonizing rapidly

This trend is especially important for calculating "avoided CO₂ emissions" and "equivalent planted trees" indicators in photovoltaic simulations.

Recent research shows that the carbon footprint of monocrystalline PV module manufacturing in China declined from 2.01–3.24 kgCO₂eq/Wp to 0.31–0.39 kgCO₂eq/Wp between 2008 and 2023 (a nearly 90 % reduction per watt).

This has been possible thanks to several factors:

• ⚡ Decarbonization of electricity in major manufacturing regions.
• 🔥 Efficiency improvements in furnaces, ingot production, and wafer slicing.
• 🔪 Thinner wafers.
• 🔩 Lower aluminum frame emission intensity and better material use.
• 📈 Scale and learning effects across the supply chain.

These results, based on factory-level data from companies including Canadian, EGing, GCL, JA, Jinko, LONGi, Risen, and Trina, show how manufacturing improvements and the use of renewables can reduce life cycle emissions.